Put Another Nickel In

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. ~ Leonardo DaVinci

This morning I went for a walk with Coda, my black lab. Spring is all around and I hadn't yet taken the opportunity to get out in it without there being a car door or office window blocking my senses to it. The morning was perfect; the temperature was a little chilly so that when you exerted the effort for a brisk walk, your body warmed just enough to keep out the chill.

The walking trail that runs through my neighborhood has been closed since I moved in, so I haven't really seen what it's like or where it goes -- until today. The closed sign was down, so I decided to take Coda and see what it had to offer and if I'd go there more often. As I followed the curves through houses and then to the backs of yards, it began to get more woodsy and then came to run parallel with the river. I knew I live near to the river, but I have somehow detached that river from where I live.

We wound around the trail, under the road and up into a meadow near the city baseball parks. I decided to take Coda half way over a bridge and pause there for a little while. We sat there and just breathed it all in. As I looked up and down the river, I thought, I live here. This is my neighborhood. This is me and my wonderful canine companion, enjoying a Saturday morning walk along the river bank - just a few blocks from my house. Life is good. I love moments like that. They don't come as often as I would like, probably because I don't stop to see them and take them in.

As I persist in writing this particular blog, I've decided that I want to use it as a place for me to document simple joys I find in life. Hopefully as I recognize them more and more, I'll have more of them and I can work toward letting the needless complexities in life fall away so that all my simple joys blend together into a simple life of happiness. I chuckle at the thought that this might be possible, but I'll attempt it nonetheless because I believe it'll be worth it.